I was looking to get a focusing rack for macro photography for use with my Canon 5DII. I've previously used a focusing rack with a Rollei rack with a 6008 and I was wondering whether anyone has any experiences (positive or negative) with any type or brand that they might care to share.

I was looking to get a focusing rack for macro photography for use with my Canon 5DII. I've previously used a focusing rack with a Rollei rack with a 6008 and I was wondering whether anyone has any experiences (positive or negative) with any type or brand that they might care to share.

Phil

The RSS rail is quite nice, but it suffers from backlash in the focusing mechanism. If you like to focus by moving the lens to and fro until you get the best focus, this is quite irritating. I tried the unit, but returned it for a refund and bought the Kirk rail. It is not as well made, but has less backlash in its rack and pinion mechanism. The RSS is screw drive, which should be free of excessive play, but the play is not in the screw mechanism but in the lug that attaches the screw to the camera support.

Which would be better depends on the intended use. For single shots, I would prefer the Kirk but the RSS might be better for focus stacking since you can move the camera more precisely. With the Kirk, the Arca Swiss type clamp can be rotated 90 degrees is you are using a lens with a foot rather than mounted on the camera. With the RSS, you would have to buy an adapter.

Do you have an iPhone or iPad? try the CamRanger (http://www.camranger.com) instead. very precise remote focusing using your iPhone, iPad , or Mac (Windows and Android support is coming very soon) without touching your camera. Works well for both single frame shots and automates the focus stacking process too. Lots of other features as well like an intervalometer, ultra-long exposure settings, etc.

Do you have an iPhone or iPad? try the CamRanger (http://www.camranger.com) instead. very precise remote focusing using your iPhone, iPad , or Mac (Windows and Android support is coming very soon) without touching your camera. Works well for both single frame shots and automates the focus stacking process too. Lots of other features as well like an intervalometer, ultra-long exposure settings, etc.

It's a better solution than a "one trick pony" piece of hardware.

The CamRanger is an interesting concept, but the hardware hanging off a cord rather then connected to the camera seems a bit awkward. Furthermore, with macro photography it is usually recommended to move the camera and not refocus the lens so as to avoid changes in magnification imposed by the refocusing.

After a good deal of research I bought a Novoflex rack a couple of years ago. I have used it with a Nikon D700 and Panasonic G3. It is very high quality, has 2 sizes of tripod screw holes in 3 different locations (front, center, back), and could probably survive being run over by a tank. I bought this to do focus stacking because after asking on this forum I was convinced that you get the best result by moving the camera rather than changing the focus. It has a mm scale that makes it easy to move the camera in 1/2 mm increments.

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Peter"Photographic technique is a means to an end, never the end itself."View my web pageView my Facebook page

Moving the camera and lens is best for higher magnification work, but matters less when your subject is not in close proximity to the lens. For larger subjects like flowers or products, a linhof macro rail is very robust and easy to operate and can be found on the used market for very little money for what they are.

Eric, that makes sense, i can't see how and external focus adjust program can acheive reasonably accurate 1/8 in slices at 3 in working distance (of course i can't do it manually either)

having done some stacking manually, i'm very much in favor of automating the process but would really like to understand the accuracy and repeatability of the alternatives available - and what the alternatives are. i'd like to be able to do it in the field without tethering to a computer

Eric, that makes sense, i can't see how and external focus adjust program can acheive reasonably accurate 1/8 in slices at 3 in working distance (of course i can't do it manually either)

having done some stacking manually, i'm very much in favor of automating the process but would really like to understand the accuracy and repeatability of the alternatives available - and what the alternatives are. i'd like to be able to do it in the field without tethering to a computer

with the CamRanger the increments are not measured in mm or fractions of inches - and the actual distance seems to be irrelevant (lens focal length, reproduction scale (subject size to capture format size and also reproduction size of the finished image are factors) but it does move the focus point incrementally from the point you set as the near focus point towards a distant point. If at the end of a sequence you find that the stopping point is too short you simply continue the sequence from the previous sequences stopping point.Here's a montage of three screen shots of the focusing interface setup of the CamRanger app running in iOS on an iPhone 4. Double tapping on the screen fills the screeb area with a 100% resolution view of the area in the white square. I have used it (I have no connections with the creators of the CamRanger) so I know that it works.

This is the linhof rail that I have for those that are curious. It's probably as robust a device as you can find, but probably not right for bugs and very small things. Works well for flowers and products though and this is strong enough to hold a large camera. The pics were from the guy I bought mine from. This has a geared travel and 3 different camera attachment points. You can mount the body on one and secure lens with another if you have a lot of tubes or long lenses fitted. Travel is marked in cm on the side.